Mo Farah may attempt a 10,000m and marathon double at the 2016 Rio Olympics, according to his coach, Alberto Salazar.

The 29-year-old, who trains under Salazar in Oregon, won 5,000m and 10,000m gold at the London Olympics but has made no secret of his intention to step up to the marathon at some point in the future.

Salazar believes Farah could go for an audacious and seldom-tried double in four years' time. "My guess is that he will do a 10-marathon double," he told BBC Sport.

"At Rio, that would be a good shot. We will have to look at the schedule, but if the 10 is first, he would go 10,000m and marathon."

Only the great Emil Zatopek has won gold in both events at an Olympics, in Helsinki in 1952, where he also won the 5,000m crown. Salazar said: "It would be so much tougher now."

The 54-year-old revealed Farah would not make his marathon debut until 2014 at the earliest, though. He said: "He won't go to the marathon until 2014. The way we look at it is pretty simple: he's the best long-distance runner on the track in the world right now.

"He's got the world championships coming up next year. We know he can be very good at marathon, but we don't know he can be the best in the world – it's a different event."

He added: "The only time it makes sense is that he could run the worlds in Moscow next summer and then do [the] London [Marathon] in April 2014. There is no worlds or Olympics in 2014, so he could run London and then still perhaps run a late track season in August."